1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the handling of semiconductor chips and, specifically, to a carrier adapted for supporting a substrate film during the assembly and bonding process.
2. Background
In today's integrated circuit (IC) technology, semiconductor chips or dies are typically batch fabricated on a silicon wafer. The wafer may contain hundreds of dies arranged in a matrix. The dies are separated and each die is typically mounted on an appropriate substrate, contacted, and packaged.
The substrate is typically a thin flexible tape or film reel which permits automated transport and handling of the dies. Many dies may be attached adjacently to a single tape using, for example, a suitable adhesive material. Bond pads on the dies and the substrate film allow the dies to be wire bonded or connected, using suitable leads, to the substrate. The die-substrate assemblies may then be cut into individual units. Each unit is packaged in a suitable medium with output leads, for example, ball grid arrays (BGA), pin grid arrays (PGA), dual in-line packages (DIP), and the like. The outputs of these packages allow interconnections to a similarly patterned arrangement of connections on a printed circuit board (PCB).
The thinness of the substrate film or tape is advantageous in that it does not significantly add to the weight and size of the end product. But this thinness can also cause the substrate film reel to be fragile and flimsy. As a result, during the assembly process, the film is prone to undesirable and/or unwanted bending and movement. This cannot only cause damage to the die, the substrate and the die-substrate interface, but can also complicate the handling and assembly of the die and substrate. For example, undesirable bending of the film substrate can result in breakage of one or more of the leads connecting the dies to the substrate.